Tell Congress to Stop the FCC Internet Takeover

President Obama's Federal Communications Commission seems intent on regulating the Internet no matter what. Last Fall, it was about "net neutrality" regulation – a nice sounding idea that in practice would undermine investment, disrupt the functioning of networks, and empower the FCC to be traffic cops for the Internet.

A couple of months ago the FCC was smacked down in court by the DC Circuit, which found that the commission's claim that it had authority to regulate the Internet was not based in law. Did they back down? Did they ask Congress to give them the authority they wanted the legitimate way, by passing a law? Of course not. Instead they escalated their regulatory onslaught, proposing to reclassify Internet access as a public utility and put it under the framework designed in the 1930s for the old-fashioned phone network. Wall Street analysts called this "the nuclear option" because of the devastating effect it would have on investment.

Last Thursday, on a 3-2 party-line vote, the FCC opened a Notice of Inquiry on reclassifying the Internet as a regulated public utility. I'll ask you to put comments in that docket soon, but right now it's critical that we focus on Congress. We must get Congress to step in and STOP the FCC's Internet takeover now, because the FCC has launched secret meetings this week to strong-arm and coerce Internet companies into accepting net neutrality regulations or face even more devastating reclassification into a public utility!

Read More

TAKE ACTION